November 02, 2012

Black Income Inequality

Trick question.

Professor WJ Wilson said this in 1998:

WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON: If you take a look at black income today, if you divide black income into quintiles, the top quintile has now secured almost 50 percent of the total black income, which is a record. The top quintile in the white population has secured about 44 percent of the white income, which is also a record. [www.pbs.org: Read more of this interview]

Now, it is true that the gap-- that whites have much higher income, overall wealth, than blacks. And by ́ ́wealth,'' I mean not only income but assets. But nonetheless, if you just look at the distribution of income, inequality is growing more rapidly in the black community, surprisingly enough, than in the white community.

What have black people done in particular to make that income inequality and what can we learn from that?

Comments

Black Income Inequality

Trick question.

Professor WJ Wilson said this in 1998:

WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON: If you take a look at black income today, if you divide black income into quintiles, the top quintile has now secured almost 50 percent of the total black income, which is a record. The top quintile in the white population has secured about 44 percent of the white income, which is also a record. [www.pbs.org: Read more of this interview]

Now, it is true that the gap-- that whites have much higher income, overall wealth, than blacks. And by ́ ́wealth,'' I mean not only income but assets. But nonetheless, if you just look at the distribution of income, inequality is growing more rapidly in the black community, surprisingly enough, than in the white community.

What have black people done in particular to make that income inequality and what can we learn from that?